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Because the scorecard was limited to congressional votes, neither President Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney was ranked. When assembling Snippets of a purported new video clip of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden appeared on the Web on Friday, shortly after the clip was broadcast on the Arabic language Al-Jazeera TV network. Canadian television network CTV hosted video of an untranslated version of the broadcast on its Web site, while an MSNBC.com newscast offered a short translated clip, in which bin Laden made a reference to the U.S. presidential election. "Your security is not in the hands of Kerry or Bush or al-Qaida. Your security is in your own hands," bin Laden said, according to the MSNBC translation of the clip. In addition, bin Laden threatened new attacks on the United States. Time line Key facts about bin Laden An overview of the al-Qaida leader. NBC reported that the tape has been confirmed as authentic by U.S. officials and offers the first direct admission from bin Laden that he ordered the Sept. 11 attacks. Bin Laden has released several video and audio messages since he went into hiding after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001. The last purported recorded message from bin Laden was posted on the Web on several sites on May 6. The audiotape urged the assassination of top U.S. and U.N. officials in Iraq. Have an opinion on this story? Share it with other News.com readers. Track this story's companies and topics Web sites Create alert Politics Create alert Create your own e-mail alert > Related stories Virus writer purports to show bin Laden's death July 23, 2004 'Atak' worm variant linked to al-Qaida sympathizer the scorecard, CNET News.com reviewed important technology bills and selected representative ones ranging from a 1995 vote on the Communications Decency Act to a recent attempt to preserve the current practice of accounting for the cost of stock options. The selection process also solicited input from technology trade associations on key legislative actions over the past decade. Senators were ranked against 10 key votes over the past 10 years, with scores assigned based on CNET News.com's editorial judgment of the impact of those votes on the technology community at large. A full explanation of the methodology for Senate scores can be found here. One reason why Republicans garnered better scores is that nearly 40 percent of the included votes dealt with taxes and free trade, two topics that tend to break along partisan lines. Trade is especially vital for technology firms; the Information Technology Industry Council says exports represent more than half the revenue of its larger members. Will Rodger, who tracks Congress for the Computer and Communications Industry Association, said the scorecard's results show that politicians who tout themselves as tech-friendly don't always vote that way. "A lot of our best friends don't really capitalize on their votes," Rodger said. "There are still lots of relationships that tech proponents could cultivate on the Hill." How the rankings worked Any political scorecard is necessarily incomplete and somewhat arbitrary. In this case, the majority of technology-related votes aren't suitable for ranking. That's because some decisions, like an October 2001 one on the Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act, took place by voice vote with no record of how individual members of Congress behaved. The winning combination of technology, art and commerce was on display this week in DreamWorks Animation's initial public offering. Building on the financial success of this year's "Shark Tale" and "Shrek 2" releases, DreamWorks on Thursday spun off the animation unit, raising $812 million in a deal that saw shares soar from $28 to $38.75 by market close. The IPO highlights the growing sway of technology in the animation business, where breakthroughs in software, processing power and data storage can be as important as raw artistic ability. For "Shark Tale," DreamWorks' software developers created more than a dozen new custom software tools, with over 2,300 features and enhancements. Two of the biggest advancements in the field in recent years have involved creating the illusion of reflected light. Stanford University experts Henrik Wann Jensen, Stephen R. Marschner and Pat Hanrahan wrote a technical paper detailing the breakthrough algorithm--subsurface scattering--for which they won an Oscar. Subsurface scattering allows animators to create the illusion of translucency, or light passing through skin or marble. Another technique DreamWorks has pioneered is global illumination, an effect that shows the natural way light reflects in a room or across surfaces in a given setting. For "Shark Tale," the production team used a tool for a form of global illumination called a bounce shader, which gauges where and how light will bounce from surface to surface. The visual effects team used the tool to create the illusion of natural light and shadows for undersea scenes. But more-sophisticated algorithms call for greater computing power. For "Shark Tale," more than 300,000 frames were created during production, and each frame required more than 40 hours to render. The production used more than 30 terabytes of disk space--the equivalent of 54,000 CD-ROM discs--and more than five miles of film. But the biggest advance for which animators pray is speed. DreamWorks continually updates its processors so animators can get instant feedback on changes to a scene.
Approximate Word count = 3476
Approximate Pages = 13.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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